The Truxtun Schoolhouse

Perhaps the most important building in Truxtun was the Truxtun Elementary School. Fred McCracken School, later known as Truxtun Grammar School and finally Truxtun Elementary School.  Construction of the Truxtun schoolhouse began in 1919 and was completed in 1920.  The school was named after Truxtun's first town manager, F. D. McCracken. After Mr. McCracken left in 1921, it came to be known as Truxtun Grammar School. Funds that were generated from house rent and profits from home sales were used to hire teachers and administrators to run the school.

The Truxtun school was superior to many African-American schools in the area since it actually had an auditorium, an amenity that few Black schools enjoyed. The Auditorium served the community well as a meeting place for social organizations, a showplace for entertainers, and a place to conduct dances and dinners.  Of the six classrooms in the school, the town found that only two classrooms were needed to educate children  from Truxtun.   The additional four classrooms were rented to the city of Portsmouth and were used to provide relief for the overcrowded Brighton School.[1] 

Rodgers Collection, Portsmouth Public Library

Truxtun School

The importance of education was noted well by the residents of Truxtun, who showed much fanfare to the Truxtun School's first graduating class of ten students in June of 1921.  In a crowded school auditorium, the first ten high school graduates were honored at a commencement exercise.  The school honored their valedictorian and salutatorian with gold metals, and recognized other students of the graduating class for various other contributions including "best paper on hygiene" and "most improvement in school work."  Speeches were given by a professor at Booker T. Washington school and town manager Fred D. McCracken.  After the ceremony, the entire class was treated to a picnic in Churchland.[2]

Courtesy Lee Rodgers Collection, Portsmouth Public Library.

Truxton Elementary School Variety Show in 1950. The community's social organizations used the auditorium as a meeting place and as a space for fundraising events. Performers coming through town used the auditorium to perform shows for residents of Portsmouth. Some residents argued that the auditorium at the Truxton School might have been the most important building in the community.

The Truxtun school had a reputation for academic excellence throughout its lifetime under the wise guidance of administrators such as Principal John Carey. The school was torn down in the 1990s after the building became outdated and fell into disrepair.